Blackberry Storm 9520 by Celcom

Here we go, another advertorial and this time, we're covering Celcom's bid to promote the new Blackberry Storm 9520 and lord knows I WANT ONE OF THOSE! Credits to those who helped in this post, especially my brother Safriz for his pictures. This man is a genius...

Ever since I was in England, the Blackberry craze has been rampant. Each network provider, be it Vodafone, Orange or anyone else would be going into the market promoting the Blackberry and quite honestly, I wouldn't blame them. Dubbed "computer and everything else that it can do in a phone", this little mean machine makes your everyday hand phone look like the pasar malam, underwater version of a phone with its application. Basically, there is nothing this phone cannot do.

Blackberry makes you look good while using it. Can an iPhone do that?

Quite naturally I too succumbed to the craze back then honestly with a little curiosity of what was the craze all about, and I found out why. As a phone, it keeps its operating system up to date using its on board internet service that usually comes with the phone. Each and every one of your contact list is automatically updated via Facebook or any other social network that you assign the person to which basically means that every time your friend changes something on Facebook, his contact on your phone changes with it. Its application also works as a charm as I find myself doing my notes on my Blackberry while I'm on the train or the Tube. Clear cut camera, easy to use qwerty keyboard and most importantly the pride jewel of the Blackberry which is the Blackberry Messaging system. Due to the fact that they themselves have an independent network system that supports every Blackberry around the world, each Blackberry user would be able to message, send files and photos across the world FOR FREE!

Owning a Blackberry might cause some slight distraction while operating a boat...

So naturally, coming back to Malaysia, I just have to have the same services as well as getting an upgrade of my dingy old Blackberry Bold. Quite fortunately three providers in Malaysia, Celcom, Maxis and Digi all provide the Blackberry services as well as the phone as part of the package. First of, we look at the new Blackberry Storm 2!

berry in a Box!

The new Blackberry Storm 9520 (herinafter known as Storm2) have made several improvements since their first appearance in 2008. Lighter, thinner and more user friendly, the Storm2 now is made to be more mobile than ever before. To compete with the trend of "touchscreen" phones in the market, the phone boasts 3.25 inches screen providing a more wider viewing screen than the previous model. Imagine having a widescreen plasma screen TV in the palm of your hands, if that is not viewing pleasure I really don't know what is...

One of the problem that it had from the previous model was firstly the lack of the qwerty keyboard. Because of this, many would find it difficult to type because of the touchscreen mode. The previous model has the "pressure sensitive" touchscreen which means that the screen would fall in slightly for it to respond to your touch of a particular button. Although this would prevent you from incidents like "oh-crap-I-accidently-dialed-that-girl-I-was-avoiding-while-breaking-a-dancemove" situation but it does allow dust to get inside the edges of the phone while you are pressing, making it a uber hassle to clean. The new Storm2 eliminates this problem by not having any space or room in the edges, making the use cleaner and problem free from the phone system. The SurePress Technology used for the new Storm2 would calculate pressure of the button would mean that the user would be able to use multi touches on the screen rather than one.

Smooth screen, no buttons, sheer delight

Another enhancement that they made for the phone would be the availability of Wi-Fi. One of the reason why the previous model was less successful in comparison to its Bold counterpart was that users could not access Wi-Fi from the phone, rendering the large screen useless. The new Storm2 now provides Wi-Fi capability so no problems for those who either would want to watch YouTube in Starbucks or being a nerd while checking your fantasy football team during football nights at the mamak... (I deny doing this...).

Honestly, why would I want to own it then?

If the above new functions is not mouthwatering enough, I would honestly say that this phone gives the best of both worlds. Its functionality gives it the edge for work and navigation as well as a superior phone usage. Its touchscreen advancements now give a more competitive edge in entertainment in comparison to other touchscreen users.

The ultimate question now is, which provider should I sanction?

As I said before, the service providers in England provided me with two main things, good network services for communication as well as unlimited mobile internet use for my internet on the go (I need to update my blog anywhere right?). Quite honestly, I've asked around users for all three users and found that Celcom provides with the best services for the Blackberry. Compare these aspects:

Celcom Blackberry Package

Price

One of the most important option when it comes to most people would be how much would they be paying for the Blackberry services. As I am told, Digi offers the lowest, most affordable price there is in the market, second by Celcom. However I must stress that even with that price, the services in which they provide are far below par than the other services.

Billed at RM58 per month in comparison to Celcom, who is offering at RM 98 per month. The difference between the two, from my own personal observation that Celcom's price would include the Blackberry service as well as tech support for any problems that you would have for your Blackberry.

Maxis however is the most expensive package of them all (much to our surprise). Offering at RM120 per month, the riddonk pricing that they are giving is quite similar to the ones that is offered by Celcom. Reason behind this is because that they put a lot of emphasis on the unlimited internet use rather than the Blackberry services which explains their high price.

Their call rates are also varied between the services. In calculation, Digi has one of the highest rate when it comes to their calls where as the post paid Celcom for the Blackberry package is still the cheapest in the market.

Product

To date, Celcom is the only one between all the service providers that would be offering the Storm2 as part of their package. Both Digi and Maxis are now competing with each other to promote the new Blackberry Bold 2 9700 which in light that it may be a good phone but the Storm2 is better. Seeing that I was previously a Blackberry Bold 9000 user, all of the advantages that Bold use to have over the Storm is now quashed by the arrival of the new Storm2.

Bold 2 Package by Maxis

Services

Ask anyone, and most people would concur that Celcom's connection will always be far superior in comparison to the services by other providers. As mentioned above, Digi's cheap pricing does sacrifice a lot of their services. Unclear calls, congested internet lines as well as many other problems makes their package not as attractive as they would perceive from their price. Celcom's coverage has always been great, seeing that they have been in the business of providing Blackberry services far longer than any of its competitors.

As for Maxis, its high pricing does not really constitute for the services that they are providing. Although earlier thought that their connection, particularly mobile internet connection is as good as Celcom, reviews by users such as Zaaba mentioned that line disconnections is getting more frequent and more and more places are becoming a problem for it to connect to the internet.

So far, my father who has been using the Blackberry service from Celcom has not have any problems whatsoever to connect to the internet, even during his field trips to remote areas in Sarawak which undoubtedly gives recognition to their service as a whole.

Others

All in all, its clear that Celcom provides a far greater deal than in comparison to its other services. Oh and another thing,

Celcom's spokesperson is rounder, therefore funnier...

Maxis don't even have a funny fat man for their spoke person...

If a picture paints a thousand words, then this would sum up why I want a Blackberry Storm 2 with Celcom within a thousand words...

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comments:

Agree with the fact that Maxis connectivity has been patchy. If one is paying for unlimited data, you expect reasonable quality of service (QOS) too. Unfortunately, I think Maxis has suffered from "user glut" whereby too many ppl are on the network downloading ect causing insufferable speeds for everybody. That happens when your takeup rate (thanks to the iPhone I am sure) is more than you bargain for.

To prove my point, there is no such thing as "unlimited data" for Maxis anymore. Basic plans start at a promo price of MYR58 last I checked. I'm keeping my rare RM99/mo unlimited data plan for sure!

owh, i'm torn between bold 9700 and storm2. i love qwerty keyboard but i also love touchscreen. (please dont suggest me bb torch.no no no..too pricey for me n is it even available in malaysia yet?) so, if u could help me in choosing between these 2. u said, u use bold 9000 before n storm2 definitely crushed bold9000. what about 9700? they improve the trackball to trackpad which many people like. thanks in advance :)